I was up early and on the road before 7:00 am and it was beautiful. The sun was just up over the horizon, there were very few cars on the road and it was cool enough that I had my fleece under my jacket. After a couple of hours riding south on Highway 5 I stopped for gas and breakfast, and the temperature had started to rise, so off came the fleece. Two hours later, I took off my jacket as it was really hot. I am not comfortable doing this but the heat was so bad I felt a bit woozy at times, so it is a trade-off.
The crops on either side of highway 5 are like a fruit and vegetable stand that goes for hundreds of miles . It is difficult to know what each crop is but I believe I saw, sugar cane, apricots, almonds, pistachios, tomatoes, apples, peaches, plums and grapes. The fields are enormous with no weeds or grass growing between the plants and there appear to be small watering hoses that run to the base of each plant.
I am so impressed with how the plants are spaced and placed in such symmetrical patterns. I tried to pick this up in a few of the photographs.
After highway 5 passed Los Angeles it turned west to the Pacific Ocean and the temperature dropped very nicely due to the cooling effect of the ocean. After climbing a hill for what appeared to be many miles there suddenly appears a beautiful blue lake poised between the desert hills. It is a mystery as to where the water comes from.
After another hour or so I turned off to a neighbourhood of San Diego and using the GPS found the home of Anita and Dennis Norman where I was welcomed with open arms and cold water. We were able to squeeze the bike into the garage with the two cars, and had a fantastic dinner of ribs, salad, potatoes and really delicious onion concoction.
Their house is on the end of a dead end street, and beautiful.
A day or so to relax and enjoy learning about what to do to cross successfully into Mexico, and survive for a few days is the plan going forward.
Distance Travelled: 390 Miles 624 Km